Luther and the Reformation

    Today in class we talked about Martin Luther and the Reformation. My notes are included below.

The Church is weakened and vulnerable

• socially- the Renaissance emphasis on the secular (worldly) and the individual challenged church authority
• the printing press helped spread these ideas
• politically- some rulers (especially the Germans) began to challenge the Church's political power 
• economically- northern merchants resented paying church taxes to Rome 
• "... religious reform please..." 

What's so wrong with the church?

• corrupt leadership 
• Renaissance- era popes spent extravagantly on personal pleasure 
• Pope Alexander VI admitted he fathered several children 
• Many priests and monks were poorly educated
• How can you teach if you can barely read?
• Some priests got married and had children 
• Some priests drank to excess, many gambled 

But mostly indulgences 

• The selling of indulgences (pardons) "releases a sinner from performing the penalty a priest imposed for sins" 
• Johann Tetzel was a monk who sold indulgences to help rebuild St. Peter's cathedral
• A monk named Martin Luther objected to this practice